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diff --git a/29777.txt b/29777.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed19482 --- /dev/null +++ b/29777.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1533 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Identification of the Writer of the +Anonymous Letter to Lord Monteagle in 1605, by William Parker and Francis Tresham and William Vavasour + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Identification of the Writer of the Anonymous Letter to Lord Monteagle in 1605 + +Author: William Parker + Francis Tresham + William Vavasour + +Release Date: August 24, 2009 [EBook #29777] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANONYMOUS LETTER *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Jane Hyland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + +THE IDENTIFICATION OF +THE WRITER OF THE +ANONYMOUS LETTER TO +LORD MONTEAGLE IN 1605 + + "A strange letter, from a strange hand, + by a strange messenger; without date to + it, name at it, and (I had almost said) + sense in it. A letter which, even when it + was opened, was still sealed, such the + affected obscurity therein." + + FULLER'S _Church History_, x. 32. + + +LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, +HAMILTON, KENT & CO., LTD. +1916 + +[Transcriber's note: +[***] denotes an asterism, that is, a triangle comprising three asterices. +A carat symbol ^ indicates that the ensuing letters of the word are +superscript letters.] + + +PREFACE + + +One of the great mysteries of English history is the anonymous letter to +Lord Monteagle, warning him not to attend the opening of Parliament, +appointed for the Fifth of November, 1605, which is popularly supposed +to have led to the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot. The writer's +identity was carefully concealed by the Government at the time; the +intention being, as explained by Lord Salisbury, "to leave the further +judgment indefinite" regarding it. The official statements are, +therefore, as unsatisfactory as might be expected in a matter that, for +State reasons, has not been straightforwardly related. The letter, +however, remaining and in fair preservation, there was always the +possibility of the handwriting being identified; and this, after the +lapse of over three hundred years, is now accomplished. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + PREFACE v + + SECTION + + I. HISTORICAL ANALYSIS 1 + + II. THE OFFICIAL STORY OF THE LETTER 5 + + III. IDENTIFICATION OF THE HANDWRITING 9 + + IV. THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S OPINION OF VAVASOUR'S GUILT 19 + + V. FRANCIS TRESHAM'S CONFIDENCE WHEN IN THE TOWER 24 + + VI. THE VAVASOURS AS DEPENDANTS OF THE TRESHAM FAMILY 25 + + + + + +LIST OF FACSIMILES + + + 1. The anonymous letter as delivered to Lord Monteagle, October 26, + 1605, warning him not to attend the opening of Parliament + appointed for the Fifth of November (From the original letter in + the Museum of the Public Record Office) _Frontispiece_ + + 2. A page of the MS. entitled "A Treatise against Lying," etc., + formerly belonging to Francis Tresham, of which the handwriting + was attributed by his brother, William Tresham, to William + Vavasour. Now in the Bodleian Library. (Laud MSS. 655, + folio 44) [1] + + 3. William Vavasour's handwriting in the letter to the Earl of + Salisbury, dictated and signed by Francis Tresham when dying in + the Tower, December 22, 1605 ("State Papers, Domestic," James I., + ccxvi. 211) [1] + + Stated by Vavasour to have been written by Mrs. Tresham. + On March 24, 1605-6, he confessed that he wrote it and signed + a note to it to that effect. + + 4. William Vavasour's handwriting in his _untrue_ statement, written in + the presence of the Lieutenant of the Tower, that No. 3 was + written by Mrs. Tresham. Dated March 23, 1605-6 ("State + Papers, Domestic," James I., ccxvi. 207) [1] + + [***]To avoid detection of his falsehood, he writes a hand + quite different from his ordinary writing in Nos. 2 and 3, thus + producing a hand which is in itself identical with his former + disguised writing as seen in the anonymous letter (No. 1). + + 5. George Vavasour's handwriting on the last leaf, which he renewed + for Francis Tresham, of the MS. entitled "A Treatise against + Lying," etc. (Laud MSS. 655, folio 61) _To face page 26_ + + + + + +The Identification of the Writer of the Anonymous Letter to Lord +Monteagle + +I + +HISTORICAL ANALYSIS + + +Francis Tresham, of Rushton, in Northamptonshire, has recently +(September 11, 1605) succeeded his father, Sir Thomas Tresham (a great +sufferer for the Roman Catholic religion), in an inheritance of at least +five thousand a year, in present money; after having, as he says, spent +most of his time overburdened with debts and wants, and resolves within +himself to spend his days quietly. His first cousin, Robert Catesby, +being hard-up with funds exhausted in financing the scheme known as the +Gunpowder Plot, seeing in Tresham the chance of obtaining a further +supply (though previously distrusting him), induces him, in the +interests of their religion, to join the conspiracy, of which he thus +becomes the thirteenth, and last, sworn conspirator (October 14, 1605). +Catesby is careful to impose the oath of secrecy before fully disclosing +the plot; of which Tresham, on hearing, entirely disapproves, and +endeavours to dissuade his cousin from, or even to defer it; meanwhile +offering him the use of his own purse if he will do so. Finding he +cannot prevail with him, he is very urgent that the Lords Monteagle and +Stourton, particularly the former, may be warned, each having married +Tresham's sisters; but Catesby can give no definite assurance. Tresham +then intends, as he says, to get the conspirators shipped away, and to +inform the Government by some unknown, or anonymous, means. + +Tresham has a serving-man named William Vavasour, who attended Sir +Thomas Tresham, and who, with his elder brother, George Vavasour (whose +education Tresham has particularly encouraged), and their sister Muriel +(gentlewoman to Lady Monteagle who is the daughter of "Muriel" Lady +Tresham) are favoured dependants of the Tresham family, being the +children of an old and much valued Catholic servant. Both George and +William are confidentially employed by Tresham as amanuenses, in +transcribing religious, or treasonable, treatises of the time. + +Lord Monteagle unexpectedly orders a supper to be prepared (October 26, +1605) at his house at Hoxton (belonging to his brother-in-law Tresham), +and where he has not been for some months. As he is about to go to +supper, a letter is handed to him by his footman, to whom it has been +given in the street by "an unknown man of a reasonable tall personage," +who knows that he will find him at so unfrequented a residence. +Monteagle opens the letter, which is anonymous, pretends he cannot +understand it, and shows it to his secretary, Thomas Ward, who, he is +aware, is familiar with some of the conspirators; whom Ward, the next +evening, tells of the receipt of the letter, which Monteagle at once +takes to Whitehall, about three miles away, where he finds the Earl of +Salisbury (Principal Secretary of State) with other lords of the Council +together assembled, "ready for supper." The Government censor, or +suppress, the name of the place where the letter was delivered. The +conspirators and the Jesuit priests, who are involved in the plot +through the confessional, at once suspect Tresham; and Catesby and +Winter directly charge him with having betrayed them, which he denies, +while urging them to escape to France, and giving them money for the +purpose. Although Tresham is a sworn conspirator, he alone remains +behind and at large, after Fawkes's arrest (November 4-5, 1605), and +flight of the others into the country, and offers his services to the +Government. A week later he is taken to the Tower, where being ill, his +wife and serving-man, William Vavasour, and a maid servant constantly +attend him; an indulgence _never under any circumstances_ permitted to +anyone who was really a prisoner and upon a capital charge there. +Becoming worse, he dictates a letter for Vavasour to write to Lord +Salisbury, retracting a statement that he has been induced to make +respecting Father Garnet, and dies (December 23, 1605). This letter, or +dying statement, being misunderstood, is considered to be so incredible +that the writing is particularly inquired into. Vavasour thereupon, in +the presence of the Lieutenant of the Tower, writes an _untrue_ +statement (consequently using a hand quite different from his ordinary +writing and, _in itself, identical with the writing of the anonymous +letter_), asserting that his master's dying statement was written by +Mrs. Tresham (though in every way proper for Vavasour to have written), +which she at once repudiates and says that Vavasour wrote it. He is then +examined in the Tower by Chief Justice Popham and Attorney-General Coke, +when he confesses that he wrote the dying statement at his master's +dictation; and had denied it "for fear." Fear of what? In case the +writing should bring into question some other and less innocent letter +written by him for his master. + +Upon Tresham's death in the Tower, the Lieutenant writes to Salisbury +(December 23, 1605) of the "marvellous" confidence shown by Tresham and +his friends that had he survived, they feared not the course of justice. +Later, having left no male issue, his inheritance passes to his brother, +who is described as of Rushton, when created a baronet on the +institution of that Order by James the First, the very king whom the +plotters intended to destroy; and although a baronetcy at that time was +merely a monetary distinction or transaction, _some_ discrimination was +no doubt made in the bestowal or disposal of that dignity, which +probably would not have been conferred upon Catesby's son, who was then +living, even if he had been able to afford it after the forfeiture of +his family inheritance. + +The Attorney-General, at Father Garnet's trial (March 28, 1606), +pronounces Vavasour as being, in his opinion, "deeply guilty" in the +treason; yet he is not even brought to trial, while other serving-men +are tried and executed; although Lord Salisbury expressly declares that +he will esteem his life unworthily given him, when he shall be found +slack in bringing to prosecution and execution ALL who are in any way +concerned in the treason; and his exertions in the matter are accounted +to be so successful, that he is rewarded with the Order of the Garter. + +Francis Tresham's inheritance remains in the family; and his +serving-man, the "deeply guilty" William Vavasour, goes free. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: _These facsimiles are issued separately in order to +facilitate comparison._] + + + + +II + +THE OFFICIAL STORY OF THE LETTER + + +The authentic, or rather the official, story of the delivery of the +letter, as published by the Government at the time, states that on +Saturday, October 26, 1605, Lord Monteagle "being in his own lodging, +ready to go to supper, at seven o'clock[2] at night, one of his footmen +(whom he had sent on an errand over the street) was met by an unknown +man, of a reasonable tall personage, who delivered him a letter, +charging him to put it in my lord his master's hands; which my lord no +sooner received, but that having broken it open, and perceiving the same +to be of an unknown and somewhat unlegible hand, and without either date +or subscription, called one of his men[3] to help him to read it. But no +sooner did he conceive the strange contents thereof, although he was +somewhat perplexed what construction to make of it (as whether of a +matter of consequence, as indeed it was, or whether some foolish devised +pasquil, by some of his enemies to scare him from his attendance at the +Parliament), yet did he, as a most dutiful and loyal subject, conclude +not to conceal it, whatever might come of it, whereupon notwithstanding +the lateness and darkness of the night in that season of the year, he +presently repaired to his Majesty's palace at Whitehall, and there +delivered the same to the Earl of Salisbury, his Majesty's principal +Secretary." + +Neither the official version nor any State paper mentions the place +where the letter was delivered, which in such a mysterious matter would +be the first inquiry. "Own lodging" at that time signified a person's +house. Hoxton is generally stated to have been the place of delivery,[4] +which was then a single street in the outlying suburb on the great north +road; at a house which Monteagle is known[5] to have occupied, belonging +to his brother-in-law, Francis Tresham; and this ownership may have been +Salisbury's reason for not naming it, which so curious an omission seems +to imply. The letter is as follows: + + "My Lord out of the loue i beare[6]; to some of youere frends i haue + a caer of youer preseruacion therfor i would aduyse yowe as yowe + tender youer lyf to deuyse some excuse to shift of youer attendance + at this parleament for god and man hathe concurred to punishe the + wickednes of this tyme and thinke not slightlye of this + aduertisement but retyre youre self into youre contri wheare yowe + maye expect the euent in safti for thowghe theare be no apparance of + anni stir yet i saye they shall receyue a terrible blowe this + parleament and yet they shall not sei who hurts them this cowncel is + not to be contemned because it maye do yowe good and can do yowe no + harme for the dangere[7] is passed as soon as yowe have burnt the + letter and i hope god will give yowe the grace to make good use of + it to whose holy proteccion I commend yowe." + + (Addressed) "To the ryght honorable + the lord Monteagle." + +It was the opinion of the other conspirators, as well as of the Jesuit +priests who became involved in the plot through the confessional, that +the warning letter originated with Francis Tresham, whose sister was +Lady Monteagle, and another sister had married Lord Stourton; and +Tresham had been most earnest with Catesby that those two lords, +particularly Monteagle, should be warned. In each instance, Catesby was +careful to impose the oath and engage the faith of the conspirator, +before disclosing the plot; and Tresham, the thirteenth and last, sworn +conspirator, on hearing the particulars, entirely disapproved of the +conspiracy, from which he tried to dissuade Catesby, offering him the +use of his own purse if he would even defer it.[8] Tresham could indeed +have desired nothing less than to become involved in such a matter. His +father had recently died, and he had succeeded to a considerable +property,[9] which alone induced his first cousin Catesby to bring him +into the plot. As Tresham wrote when in the Tower:[10] "I thank God I am +owner of such a fortune as is able to afford me what I desire, the +comfort whereof is so much the sweeter unto me, as I have spent most of +my time overburthened with debts and wants, and had resolved within +myself to spend my days quietly."[11] He acknowledged that his +intentions with regard to the other conspirators were "to ship them away +that they might have no means left them to contrive any more ... then to +have taken a course to have given the State advertisement by some +unknown means."[11] He was consequently the only conspirator who +remained behind and at large after Fawkes was taken and the others had +fled. There can be no reasonable doubt that Tresham, though not the +writer, was the sender of the letter; and upon this hypothesis all +investigators must go, as there is none other at all likely. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 2: Salisbury, in his letter to Sir Charles Cornwallis, +Ambassador at Madrid (November 9), gives the hour as six o'clock.] + +[Footnote 3: This was his secretary, Thomas Ward, who was known to +Monteagle as a friend of some of the conspirators (as Monteagle himself +was), and one of whom, Ward, the next morning told of the receipt of the +letter. "As a plan concocted by Monteagle and Tresham to stop the plot, +and at the same time to secure the escape of their guilty friends, the +little comedy at Hoxton was admirably concocted" ("What Gunpowder Plot +was," by S.R. Gardiner, D.C.L., 1897, p. 124).] + +[Footnote 4: Father John Gerard (1564-1637) gives particulars of the +delivery of the letter at Hoxton in his contemporary "Narrative of the +Gunpowder Plot," published in 1872.] + +[Footnote 5: "Calendar of Tresham Papers," p. 132.] + +[Footnote 6: The word "yowe" (you), here cancelled in the original, +indicates the writer's first thoughts, and, no doubt, his real meaning.] + +[Footnote 7: Various attempts have been made to explain the nature of +the danger alluded to, which the King and Salisbury at the time, and +others since, have understood as in allusion to the danger of the plot. +Jardine describes it as "mere nonsense" ("Gunpowder Plot," 1835, p. 73). +But the meaning clearly is the danger of the letter being discovered. +The counsel may do him good, and can do him no harm, except through the +danger of keeping the letter, which being burnt, the danger is past. +There is no allusion intended to the danger of the plot, as that, unlike +the danger of the discovery of the letter, could not be affected by +burning the letter.] + +[Footnote 8: Tresham's statement made when in the Tower ("State Papers, +Domestic," James I., xvi. 63).] + +[Footnote 9: The rental of the Rushton Hall estate alone, as given in +the "Return of Owners of Lands" in 1873, is L5,044 yearly. The Tresham +family also owned property at Hoxton and elsewhere.] + +[Footnote 10: He died in the Tower six weeks after writing that letter, +aged thirty-seven.] + +[Footnote 11: "State Papers, Domestic," James I., xvi., 63.] + + + + +III + +IDENTIFICATION OF THE HANDWRITING + + +The style of handwriting of the letter, as seen in the facsimile, is not +in this writer's opinion, from a familiarity of thirty years with old +scripts, apart from the disguise, the hand that an educated person would +write at the time, but is essentially a commonplace and, no doubt +intentionally, rather slovenly style of handwriting. The use of small +"i's" for the first person seems, in view of modern usage, to suggest an +illiterate writer; but educated writers, even the King,[12] then +occasionally lapsed into using them. In the letter, however, they are +consistently and may have been purposely used, to avert suspicion from +being the work of an educated person; though an illiterate appearance +would rather cause such a letter (if genuine) to be disregarded, than to +deter a nobleman from attending the opening of Parliament, for which +leave or licence was required. + +The handwriting has been variously ascribed, but the direction of this +inquiry is indicated by the incautious admission made by Sir Edward +Coke, the Attorney-General at the trial, respecting the real manner in +which the plot was discovered. Salisbury's careful instructions to the +Attorney-General for the trial are with the State papers, in which he +says: "Next, you must in any case, when you speak of the letter which +was the first ground of discovery, absolutely disclaim that any of +these" (the conspirators) "wrote it, though you leave the further +judgment indefinite who else it should be."[13] + +Salisbury thus, in effect, requires Coke by absolutely disclaiming that +any of the conspirators wrote (he does not say "sent") the letter to +Monteagle, and by which alone the treason was discovered, to declare in +Court, as upon the authority of the Government, that therefore none of +the conspirators divulged the plot; which, in any case, could be true +only so far as the disclosure to the Government was concerned. Coke, +however, for some reason--perhaps because he was not fully in +Salisbury's confidence respecting the letter--describes the real manner +of the discovery, according to his own knowledge. Towards the close of +his speech for the prosecution, he said: "The last consideration is +concerning the admirable discovery of this treason, which was by one of +themselves who had taken the oath and sacrament, as hath been said +against his own will;[14] the means by a dark and doubtful letter to my +Lord Monteagle." This, together with Salisbury's statement that none of +the conspirators wrote the letter, shows that the divulging of the plot +preceded the sending of the letter,[15] which was not, therefore, as is +popularly supposed, the means by which the plot was discovered, except +to the general public. + +Hitherto those who have attempted this identification have invariably +sought amongst such as are likely to have written the letter for a +handwriting _resembling the disguised writing_, which seems a strange +method of investigation, as surely the object of a disguised hand[16] +would be to make the general appearance as unlike the writer's ordinary +hand as possible? The writing being in a set and rather large character, +such is the style they have sought for and found, but in a much more +refined hand and without arriving at any satisfactory result. + +It seems, however, reasonable to suspect that this set and rather large +character may be what principally constitutes the disguise, and that the +writer's ordinary hand would be different. The manner in which the lines +are forced upwards at the right side, shows that the writer has had +difficulty in maintaining the large, set, regular character which would +push an unpractised hand in that direction. + +Among the more prominent peculiarities, as seen in the facsimile (No. +1), the writer invariably uses the long "s" as an initial letter in the +ten examples that occur, even when the letter is not a capital. Such +consistent use was usual in legal but not in private hands, though +within a word the long "s" was very common. The "t's" are peculiar; +being made with a twist or short line at foot, crossed midway projecting +from each side, while a stroke is put on the top as a disguised, or +elaborated touch. The "w's" finish with a side loop. Some of the "g's" +show flat tops; the cypher portion being commenced from the left side +with a stroke along the top. The tails of the "y's" are brought forward. +The "hanger" portion of the "h's" invariably drags below the line which, +though not unusual, again indicates in the numerous examples that occur +the writer's habit; while an unusually broad quill has been used to +further the disguise.[17] + +After the plot was discovered, Fawkes arrested, and the other +conspirators had escaped into the country, Tresham remained in London +and even offered his services to the Government. A week later he was +taken to the Tower where, being ill, his wife also came, and he was +attended by his serving-man, William Vavasour, and his maid, Joan Syer. +He was induced "to avoid ill-usage," to say that he thought Father +Garnet, against whom the Government desired to obtain evidence, had +written a letter in furtherance of what was known as the Spanish +Treason, in 1602. Six weeks later, his illness becoming dangerous, he +dictated to his man Vavasour a letter to Lord Salisbury, retracting his +statement respecting Garnet, as being more than he really knew; +declaring upon his salvation that he had not seen him "in sixteen years +before," clearly meaning before the Spanish Treason in 1602, which is +the entire subject of his letter and the fact; and not, as the +Government misunderstood him to mean, before the then time of writing in +1605. This statement, written by Vavasour (Fascimile No. 3), was signed +by Tresham, who asked his wife to deliver it personally to Lord +Salisbury, and within three hours died:[18] + + "I being sent for before yo^r Lordships in the Tow^r, you told me y^t + (that) it was Confessed by Mr Winter, y^t he went upon some + imploym^{ts} in ye Queens time into Spayne & y^t yo^r L. did nominate + to me out of his Confession all the partyes names y^t were acquainted + therew^{th} _namely 4 besides himselfe_[19] & yet sayd y^t ther were + some left for me to name. I desired yo^r L. y^t I might not answere + therunto bycause it was a matter y^t was done in the Queens time and + since I had my pardon. + + "Yo^r Lordships wold not accept of y^t answere, _but sayd y^t I should + be made to speake therunto. And I might thanke my self If I had beene + worse used than I had beene since my Coming to the howse_[19] I told + yo^r Lords^p (_to avoyde ill usage_)[19] y^t I thought Mr. Walley[20] + was p'cured to write his letter for the furthering of this Jeorney. Now + my LL. having bethoughte myselfe of this businesse (being to weake to + use my owne hand in writing this) w^{ch} I do deliver here upon my + salvacon to be trew as near as I can call to mynde, desiring y^t my + form'r Confession may be called in & y^t this may stand for truthe. It + was more than I knew y^t Mr. Walley[20] was used herein, & to give your + Lords'p p'ofe besids my oathe, I had not seene him in sixteene yere + before, nor never had messuadge[21] nor letter from him & to this + purpose I desired Mr. Leiftenant to lett me see my Confession who told + me I should not unlesse I wold inlarge it w^{ch} he did p'ceive I had + no meaning to doe. + + (Signed) Francis Tresame. + + "24 m'ch 1605 [-6]. + This noate was of my owne + hand writing + By me Willia' Vavasore." + +Tresham's statement being misunderstood to mean that he had not seen +Garnet for sixteen years,[22] while the Government knew from Tresham +himself[23] that he had recently been in Garnet's company, was +considered such awful perjury to commit when dying as to be incredible. +Coke wrote to Salisbury: "It is true that no man may judge in this case, +for _inter pontem et fontem_ he might find grace; but it is the most +fearful example that I ever knew of to be made so evident as now this +is." Salisbury at the trial said: "Mr. Tresham in his lifetime accused +you, Garnet, before the lords, yet now upon his salvation, he under his +hand did excuse you, being at the very point of death, saying he had not +seen you _in sixteen years_, which matter, I assure you, before you were +taken shook me very much. But, thanks be to God, since the coming of the +King, I have known so much of your doctrine and practices, that +hereafter they shall not much trouble me." The writing of Tresham's +dying statement was, therefore, particularly, inquired into, and +Vavasour had to make a written statement respecting his knowledge of it; +evidently for comparison of the handwriting. This appears to have so +alarmed him that in his statement (Fascimile No. 4), written in the +presence of Sir William Waad, Lieutenant of the Tower, he asserted that +the dying statement was written by Mrs. Tresham, at her husband's +dictation: + + "I do rememb' y^t my m^r did cause my m^{res} to write a note wherto he + did did (_sic_) bid the mayd and me beare witnes y^t he did set his + hand unto it, but it was not reade at y^t time but since m^{res} + Tressa' did reede it to me and sayd it was y^t noate y^t my m^r did + bid us beare witnesse and she comaunded me to carye a letter to S^r + Waulter Cope and to desire him to deliver the noate inclosed to my + Lorde of Salsburye and further my m^r did say y^t he cold not write + him selfe bycause he was not able but he did sett his hande unto it + as before I have sayd and this was done some day before his death. + + "(Signed) By me William Vavasor. + + "23. March 1605 [-6]. + Taken before us: + (Signed) W. Waad. + Willus Lane." + +If for any reason Vavasour did not desire his writing to be brought into +question, there could be no harm, beyond his falsehood, in naming Mrs. +Tresham as the writer of that letter, as neither could possibly be +blamed for writing such a statement for his master. The question arises, +whether Vavasour would have ventured upon an untrue statement, except +through panic, unless feeling sure of Mrs. Tresham's support? As Mrs. +Tresham throughout made no attempt to conceal the truth for Vavasour, +she may have been unaware of any reason for diverting inquiry from +himself respecting letters written for his master. Even if Mrs. Tresham +had been willing to connive at his falsehood, she could not have done +so; as Salisbury, being convinced that she not only wrote but composed +her husband's dying statement and induced him to sign to shield Father +Garnet, was so incensed against her that he declined to see her,[24] or +even to receive her husband's statement, when she tried to deliver it. +She was therefore obliged, in view of possible consequences to herself, +to own[25] that Vavasour wrote the statement at her husband's dictation. +Vavasour was then examined in the Tower by Chief Justice Popham and by +Coke, when he confessed[26] that he wrote the dying statement at his +master's dictation, and had denied it through fear, which could only +arise from having written some other and less innocent letter for him. + +Vavasour, when writing his untrue statement, would avoid using his +ordinary handwriting, as already appearing in the letter in question +(No. 3), which he had ascribed to Mrs. Tresham. He, therefore, disguises +his writing, so far as having to write off-hand and under the +observation of the Lieutenant of the Tower and an attendant Justice, +with the consciousness that he is writing what is false, and while +having to be careful not to reproduce his former disguised hand, as seen +in the anonymous letter, permits him; and the hand thus produced betrays +him as the writer of that letter, with which the writing is, in itself, +identical. The long "s" is invariably used for a word commencing with +that letter, even when not a capital; there are the same peculiar "t's," +though in a less disguised or elaborated form than those of the +anonymous letter, but there they clearly are; the "w's" have no side +loops, but in Vavasour's note at foot of No. 3 a conspicuous example is +seen; there are no "g's";[27] the "y's" are particularly noticeable, +being in two varieties: Vavasour's ordinary "y," of which the tail is +tucked back; in the other, the tail is brought forward; and no one can +fail to see that the latter are by the same hand as those in the letter; +the "hangers" of the "h's" invariably drag below the line; and +generally, the writing may throughout be detected as by the same hand +that wrote the anonymous letter. + +The best specimen of Vavasour's handwriting, although not so useful as +No. 4 for identification purposes, is in the MS. entitled "A Treatise +against Lying," etc., identified by William Tresham as having been +transcribed by Vavasour for Francis Tresham, which is now in the +Bodleian Library (Facsimile No. 2). To anyone familiar with the +handwriting of the period, Vavasour's writing is the usual law-writer's +or copyist's hand, such as appears in conveyances and deeds of the +time,[28] and is not the style of hand that an educated person would +then write. Each initial "s" is of the long form; each "w" has a side +loop; the "g's" are flat-topped; and the "h's" come below the line, etc. +Tresham's dying statement (No. 3) appears to be in a similar but +smaller[29] and less carefully written hand. Vavasour wrote a neat, +small hand, which, when disguising, the probability is that he would +attempt an opposite style. If it were not for the testimony of the +Lieutenant of the Tower, that the untrue statement (No. 4) was actually +written in his presence by Vavasour, the writing would not, from the +general appearance, readily be recognized as by the same hand that wrote +Tresham's dying statement (No. 3), and so acknowledged by Vavasour. This +shows that he was naturally clever in disguising his hand, hence his +employment by Tresham in writing the anonymous letter to Lord Monteagle. + + * * * * * + +Upon the evidence of the handwriting alone, William Vavasour was the +writer of that letter.[30] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 12: In the "Correspondence of James I. with Sir Robert Cecil" +(published by the Camden Society in 1861), both the King and the Earl of +Northumberland occasionally use them (pp. 64, 70, etc.). The latter also +uses them in his general correspondence.] + +[Footnote 13: "State Papers, Domestic," James I., xix. 94.] + +[Footnote 14: Tresham was throughout the only unwilling conspirator, but +he did not take the oath sacramentally, only seven or eight of the +thirteen conspirators did so.] + +[Footnote 15: "No wise man could think my lord (Monteagle) to be so weak +as to take any alarm to absent himself from Parliament upon such a loose +advertisement" (Letter from Salisbury to Cornwallis, November 9).] + +[Footnote 16: Salisbury, in his letter to Cornwallis, particularly +describes the writing as being "in a hand disguised," and he, like +Monteagle, would know not only the writer, but how the letter came to be +written.] + +[Footnote 17: In an expert examination of handwriting, the angle at +which the pen is held, as indicated by the long strokes, and the spacing +between the lines which a writer naturally uses, have also to be +considered--being the basis of handwriting, the first movements that are +made in learning to write, and become each writer's characteristics in +those respects. In each specimen of William Vavasour's handwriting, +including the anonymous letter, the long strokes are generally at the +same angle, and the spacing between the lines (except in No. 3) is +throughout generally similar, while his brother George's hand is in each +respect quite different.] + +[Footnote 18: "He died this night, about two of the clock after +midnight, with very great pain; for though his spirits were much spent +and his body dead, a-lay above two hours in departing" (Lieutenant of +the Tower to Salisbury, December 23, 1605, "State Papers, Domestic," +James I., xvii. 56). Tresham's death, being so opportune for Monteagle, +if not for Salisbury, has been attributed to poisoning; but Stowe's +"Annals" (1615, p. 880) states it to have been occasioned by strangury, +though giving the date of his death incorrectly as November 22. Ten +years later a subsequent Lieutenant of the Tower was executed for +poisoning a State prisoner.] + +[Footnote 19: The portion printed in italics was underlined by Coke for +_omission_ when the statement was read at the trial. The "4 besides +himself," having reference to Monteagle, was therefore suppressed; the +other suppressions in the statement were made for obvious and unfair +reasons.] + +[Footnote 20: "Walley" was one of Father Garnet's aliases.] + +[Footnote 21: This is very suggestive of a law-writer's spelling of +"message" (messuage and tenement).] + +[Footnote 22: When Garnet returned from Rome in 1585, as Superior of the +Jesuits in England, he made the Treshams' acquaintance, being a +prominent Roman Catholic family, when Francis was eighteen. Garnet was +not their confessor, and the acquaintance had dropped for at least +sixteen years before the Spanish Treason in 1602. Garnet's statement, +made (March 23, 1605-6) after Tresham's death, is: "I knew him about 18 +years ago, but since discontinued my acquaintance until the time between +his trouble in my lord of Essex's tumult and the Queen's death" +(1602-3). Garnet would have neither motive nor inclination to shield +Tresham, whose betrayal of the plot had brought Garnet to the Tower. He +might otherwise have discerned Tresham's real meaning in his statement +of "sixteen years before," which the contemporary Jesuit Father Gerard +correctly interprets as before 1602 in his narrative of the plot. It was +not Garnet's complicity in the Spanish Treason in the previous reign +(for which he had his pardon) that the Government cared about, and that +so shook Salisbury, but simply Tresham's dying statement being +misunderstood to mean that he had not seen Garnet for the past sixteen +years, which is all that the present writer is concerned with.] + +[Footnote 23: "State Papers, Domestic," James I., xvi. 62.] + +[Footnote 24: So he said at the trial: "She came to see me, but I spared +either to speak with her or hear her." But Mrs. Tresham in her +examination said that, "in respect of her sorrow and heaviness," she +"was enforced to send it"; and in her note enclosing the dying statement +to Sir Walter Cope for delivery, she wrote: "My sorrows are such that I +am altogether unfit to come abroad; wherefore I would entreat you to +deliver it yourself unto my lord, that I may have my husband's desire +fulfilled therein" ("State Papers, Domestic," James I., ccxvi. 211).] + +[Footnote 25: Examination of Mrs. Tresham (_ibid._, ccxvi. 209).] + +[Footnote 26: Examination of William Vavasour (_ibid._, ccxvi. 207).] + +[Footnote 27: Vavasour, in his authentic and ordinary writing, used +flat-topped "g's," as seen in the anonymous letter, as well as in No. 2, +ascribed to him.] + +[Footnote 28: The deed of Robert Catesby's marriage settlement with +Katherine, eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Leigh, of Stoneleigh (1592), in +the possession of T.W. Whitmore-Jones; Esq., of Chastleton House, Oxon, +is in a similar legal hand, with precisely the same peculiarities of +"s," "g," "w," "h," etc. A law-writer's hand to-day is in a +"copper-plate" style, which, although most suitable for the purpose, is +not the kind of hand that an educated person would write whose business +was not copying, and there was then a similar distinction between them.] + +[Footnote 29: Apparently owing to restrictions of space and paper.] + +[Footnote 30: The original letter is framed and exhibited upon a +pedestal in the Museum of the Public Record Office. The facsimile has, +therefore, had to be made from a negative taken of the letter as seen +through glass, while the other facsimiles have the advantage of being +made from negatives taken of documents unglazed.] + + + + +IV + +THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S OPINION OF VAVASOUR'S GUILT + + +The Attorney-General in his speech for the prosecution at Father +Garnet's trial (March 28, 1606), as given in the official report, +alluding to Tresham's dying statement, said: "Upon his death-bed he +commanded Vavasour his man, _whom I think deeply guilty in this +treason_, to write a letter to the Earl of Salisbury." + +Henry Garnet's trial was purposely held at the City Guildhall, instead +of Westminster Hall, the usual trial place where the conspirators had +been tried, in order to make the occasion as imposing, and his case as +exemplary, as possible, on account of his position as Superior of the +Jesuits in England.[31] The King was privately present, and there was a +most distinguished assembly of ambassadors, nobility, and others. + +Before this audience, the Attorney-General, whose opinion determines or +considerably influences a prosecution for high treason, states in Court +that a person who is not even present nor arraigned is in his opinion +"deeply guilty" in the most infamous treason ever attempted, and for +which the conspirators had already been executed: so "heinous, horrible +and damnable"[32] was it considered, that the authorities had even +proposed to devise some specially severe form of torture for the +perpetrators to undergo, in addition to the usual terrible penalty for +high treason.[33] + +Coke, who it will be remembered was the most eminent counsel and the +greatest jurist of the time, however desirous he would be of bringing to +light everything connected with such a treason upon the occasion, would +scarcely, as legally representing the Crown in his capacity of the +King's Attorney-General, express so extremely damaging an opinion +without sufficient reason. There is something in his mind concerning +Vavasour,[34] respecting whom he is not satisfied; and it can only be +Vavasour's having written, not the letter to Salisbury--as that could +not possibly implicate him, nor render him "deeply guilty" in a treason +_which had been discovered and ended six weeks before the letter to +Salisbury was written_--but that other and most treasonable letter to +Monteagle, for there was nothing else against him in the matter.[35] +Coke evidently knows, or suspects, that Vavasour wrote the warning +letter; and he cannot understand why he is not brought to trial.[36] He +therefore expresses his opinion of Vavasour's guilt as strongly as +possible, and even describes him with what for an Attorney-General in +ordinary circumstances would be a singular redundancy of legal +expression, as being "deeply guilty" in the treason.[37] No one would +know better than the Attorney-General that in high treason itself the +law makes no distinction whatever of degrees of guilt, nor can there +even be an accessory: once participant, whatever the part played may be, +all alike are principals. + +Coke's statement in Court has been officially in print for over three +hundred years, yet no investigator seems to have noticed it and so have +been led to inquire what was done to Vavasour?--by which alone a clue +might have been obtained to the writer of the letter.[38] Although +Vavasour was publicly stated by the Attorney-General to be "deeply +guilty" in a treason of which Salisbury wrote: "I shall esteem my life +unworthily given me when I shall be found slack in searching to the +bottom of the dregs of this foul poison, or lack resolution to further +to my small power the prosecution and execution of ALL those whose +hearts and hands can appear foul in this savage practise"[39]--yet he +was not even brought to trial, while other serving-men were tried and +executed.[40] + +It is questionable whether Salisbury, unless agreeing with Coke's +opinion of Vavasour's guilt, would have allowed the allusion to appear +in the official report of the trial, prepared by himself and sanctioned +by the King;[41] as, if innocent of the treason, an intolerable +injustice would have been done to Vavasour by the publication, which +probably neither the King nor Salisbury would have permitted, in making +a senseless attack upon the reputation of an innocent man, who would +certainly have protested. + +Without, however, assuming too advanced ideas of justice for the time, +it is unlikely that so capable a person as Salisbury appears to have +been,[42] could fail to perceive that the publication of the +Attorney-General's opinion of Vavasour's guilt must, in the absence of +any prosecution, call attention to Vavasour, and thus furnish a clue to +the writer of the letter. Salisbury, though generally fair-minded, might +not trouble himself about Vavasour's reputation, but he would about his +own, which would be affected by his failure, after his strongly +expressed determination, in bringing to justice ALL who were concerned +in such a treason; and this would still apply, even if Coke's published +allusion to Vavasour's guilt was merely counsel's rhetoric. Coke, +however, at the moment when making that allusion, was not declaiming +upon the treason, but simply stating a fact about Tresham, with the King +listening; and in alluding to Vavasour, he expresses what is in his +mind--"_whom I think deeply guilty in this treason_": evidently his +deliberate opinion, which he would have every opportunity of forming, +as, with the exception of Salisbury and the conspirators, he would know +more of the workings of the plot than anyone. Salisbury's chief concern, +apparently, was at all costs to keep Vavasour silent, which he did; +while his anxiety "to leave the further judgment indefinite" respecting +the writer of the letter, plainly shows that the matter would not bear +inquiry. + + * * * * * + +The only possible conclusion, therefore, is that Vavasour wrote the +anonymous letter to Lord Monteagle, which the identity of the +handwriting absolutely confirms. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 31: "My Sovereign determined that your trial should be in this +honourable assembly. For who is Garnet that he should be called hither, +or we should trouble ourselves in this Court with him? which I protest +were sufficient for the greatest Cardinal in Rome, if in this case he +should be tried. No, Mr. Garnet, it is not for your cause that you are +called hither, but to testify to the world the foulness of your fact, +the errors of your religion," etc. Lord Salisbury's Speech at the Trial. +(Gerard). When at the trial, rebuking Garnet for untruthfulness in his +previous examination before the Council, Salisbury said: "You stiffly +denied it upon your soul, reiterating it with so many detestable +execrations, _as our hair stood upright_" (Jardine).] + +[Footnote 32: The Act for the Attainder of the Conspirators ("Statutes +of the Realm," 3 James I., c. 2). Coke himself characterized the treason +at the trial as "beyond all examples, whether in fact or fiction, even +of the tragic poets who did beat their wits to represent the most +fearful and horrible murders." And in the prayer to be used in the +Anniversary Service for the Fifth of November it is described as having +been attempted "in a most barbarous and savage manner, beyond the +examples of former ages. From this unnatural conspiracy, not our merit, +but Thy mercy; not our foresight, but Thy providence, delivered us," +etc.] + +[Footnote 33: In the previous century, in a case where a more severe +penalty was desired to be inflicted, the offender was, by Act of +Parliament, publicly _boiled alive_ ("Statutes of the Realm," 22 Henry +VIII., c. 9).] + +[Footnote 34: Coke worked hard for some months in thoroughly preparing +the evidence for the trial, so that little would escape him. As he wrote +to Salisbury: "If your lordship knew what pains have been taken herein, +your lordship would pity the old attorney" (Hatfield MSS.).] + +[Footnote 35: Vavasour's falsehood respecting Mrs. Tresham had nothing +to do with the treason. Coke seems to mention Vavasour's guilt as if +antecedent to the writing of the letter to Salisbury.] + +[Footnote 36: This work is merely the identification of the writer of +the anonymous letter only, and makes no attempt to answer the much more +difficult question of what the arrangement was between Salisbury and +Monteagle, or between Monteagle and Tresham, respecting the sending of +the letter; but with regard to Coke, it is unlikely, from what is known +of their intercourse and their frequent differences in court, that he +would be admitted to any particular confidence with Salisbury in the +matter.] + +[Footnote 37: Vavasour's concealment of guilty knowledge as the writer +of the warning letter would probably be only misprision of treason, +unless Coke knew or suspected that he was directly concerned in the +treason.] + +[Footnote 38: The present writer does not owe the identification to that +clue, which was not met with until after Vavasour had been identified as +the writer of the letter.] + +[Footnote 39: Letter to the Earl of Dunfermline, Lord Chancellor of +Scotland. December 1, 1605 ("State Papers, Domestic," James I., xvii. +2). Salisbury was created K.G. with almost regal pomp for his services +in the matter. "Tuesday the 20th of May (1606), at Windsor, were +installed Knights of the Garter, Robert, Earl of Salisbury, who set +forward from his house in the Strand, being almost as honourably +accompanied and with as great train of lords, knights, gentlemen, and +officers of the Court, with others besides his peculiar servants very +richly attired, and bravely mounted, as was the King when he rid in +state through London" (Stowe's "Annals," 1615, p. 883).] + +[Footnote 40: Bates, Catesby's serving-man, at London; others in the +country.] + +[Footnote 41: Although known as the "King's book," the report of the +trial was evidently compiled by Salisbury and corrected by the King.] + +[Footnote 42: Salisbury's statesmanship is evinced by the advice he +wrote to James (I.) when King of Scotland, and impatiently awaiting +Queen Elizabeth's demise: "Your best approach towards your greatest end, +is by your Majesty's clear and temperate courses, to secure the heart of +the highest, to whose sex and quality nothing is so improper as either +needless expostulations, or over much curiosity in her own actions. The +first showing unquietness in yourself; the second challenging some +untimely interest in hers; both which, as they are best forborne when +there is no cause, so be it far from me (if there shall be cause), to +persuade you to receive wrongs and be silent" ("Secret Correspondence," +Camden Society, 1860, p. 7).] + + + + +V + +FRANCIS TRESHAM'S CONFIDENCE WHEN IN THE TOWER + + +Upon Tresham's death in the Tower (December 23, 1605), the Lieutenant +wrote to Salisbury: "I find his friends were marvellous confident if he +had escaped this sickness, and have given out in this place that they +feared not the course of justice."[43] As the late Dr. Gardiner +observed: "This confidence they could only have derived from himself, +and it could only have been founded on one ground." + +Had Tresham's committal to the Tower been otherwise than a mere +formality, or "a farce," neither his wife nor his servants would under +any circumstances have been permitted to attend or even see him whatever +the state of his health might have been; and had he survived, nothing +serious would have been done to him,[44] any more than was done to his +"deeply guilty" servant Vavasour. + +Tresham, though dreading, as he said, "the infamous brand of an +accuser,"[45] was as evidently the Informer to the Government, either +directly or indirectly through Monteagle, as his servant Vavasour was +the writer of the letter. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 43: "State Papers, Domestic," James I., xvii. 58.] + +[Footnote 44: He left no male issue, and was succeeded in the family +property by his next brother Lewis, who was created a baronet June 29, +1611, one of the second batch of baronets made on the institution of +that Order the previous May 22 by James I.] + +[Footnote 45: "State Papers, Domestic," James I., xvi. 63.] + + + + +VI + +THE VAVASOURS AS DEPENDANTS OF THE TRESHAM FAMILY + + +The Tresham Papers[46] contain much information respecting the Vavasours +as dependants of that family. Sir Thomas Tresham had a bailiff or +collector, named Thomas Vavasour, an old and much valued Catholic +servant,[47] who had, with perhaps other children, two sons, George and +William, and a daughter, Muriel. George, who had been educated, was in +June, 1596, sent up by his father with a letter to Sir Thomas, then in +town, in order that he might be entered at one of the Inns of Court, as +Sir Thomas might advise: "Mr. Francis Tresham has encouraged him in this +kind of study and the cost already bestowed must not be lost. He knows +he has nothing else to trust to but his learning, nor does he seem so +fit for anything else."[48] He was accordingly admitted to the Inner +Temple in November of that year,[49] where Lewis Tresham (Sir Thomas's +second son) had been admitted the previous November, and to whom there +is an allusion of George Vavasour acting as tutor.[50] William Vavasour, +the other son, was servant to Sir Thomas, and though not so educated as +his brother George, was not a livery-servant or footman,[51] but appears +to have held a similar or superior position with Sir Thomas, to that +which Bates, who kept his own man,[52] held with Catesby, a kind of +secretary-valet of the time.[53] After Sir Thomas's death he served his +eldest son Francis Tresham in the same capacity; while the sister Muriel +Vavasour, who bore the same (then uncommon) Christian name as Lady +Tresham, and may have been her god-daughter, became "gentlewoman without +livery" at L5 yearly[54] to Lady Monteagle, who was Lady Tresham's +daughter. Both George Vavasour and his brother William were +confidentially employed by Francis Tresham as amanuenses, where secrecy +was necessary in transcribing religious or political treatises, such as +were then circulated amongst Roman Catholics, and, being treasonable, +dared not be printed. + +On December 1, 1605, the Attorney-General, while investigating the +conspiracy, obtained two MS. volumes which had been found in George +Vavasour's chambers in the Inner Temple. One, officially described as a +"quarto" volume, though an octavo (8-1/4 x 5-3/4), entitled +"A Treatise against Lying,"[55] was stated by George Vavasour, on +examination[56] to have been lent him by Francis Tresham to copy,[57] +and the copy he had made was contained in the folio, the other MS. +found. He denied any knowledge of the handwriting in the "quarto" +volume, except that he had recopied the last page (61), in order to +replace a torn leaf, bearing in Latin the Imprimatur of George +Blackwell, Archpriest of the English Jesuits. William Tresham (Francis +Tresham's youngest brother), on being examined by Coke, said that he +thought the "quarto" MS. was in William Vavasour's handwriting, who was +formerly his father's servant, and since serving his eldest brother in +the Tower.[58] William Tresham may have seen Vavasour so employed at +home and would know his writing; while George Vavasour might not wish to +bring his brother into question. The folio MS. has disappeared, but the +"quarto" copy, as ascribed to William Vavasour, is now with Archbishop +Laud's MSS. (No. 655) in the Bodleian Library, and was published in +1851. + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE No. 1. + +The anonymous letter as delivered to Lord Monteagle, October 26, 1605, +warning him not to attend the opening of Parliament appointed for the +Fifth of November. (From the original letter in the Museum of the Public +Record Office.)] + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE No. 2. + +A page of the MS. intitled "A Treatise against Lying, &c.", formerly +belonging to Francis Tresham, of which the handwriting was attributed by +his brother, William Tresham, to William Vavasour. Now in the Bodleian +Library. (Laud MSS. 655, folio 44.)] + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE No. 3. + +William Vavasour's handwriting in the letter to the Earl of Salisbury, +dictated and signed by Francis Tresham, when dying in the Tower. +December 22, 1605. (State Papers, Domestic. James I. ccxvi. 211.) + +Stated by Vavasour to have been written by Mrs. Tresham. On March 24, +1605-6, he confessed that he wrote it, and signed a note to it to that +effect.] + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE No. 4. + +William Vavasour's handwriting in his _untrue_ statement written in the +presence of the Lieutenant of the Tower, that No. 3 was written by Mrs. +Tresham. Dated March 23, 1605-6. (State Papers, Domestic. James I. +ccxvi. 207.) + +[***]To avoid detection of his falsehood, he writes a hand quite +different from his ordinary writing in Nos. 2 and 3, thus producing a +hand which is in itself identical with his former disguised writing as +seen in the anonymous letter (No. 1).] + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE No. 5. + +George Vavasour's handwriting on the last leaf, which he renewed for +Francis Tresham, of the MS. intitled "A Treatise against Lying, &c." +(Laud MSS. 655, folio 61.)] + +George Vavasour's handwriting upon the last leaf of the MS. (Facsimile +No. 5) shows a much more refined and educated hand than his brother's, +from which the writing is in every respect different. A small "s" is +invariably used in commencing a word with that letter; the "t's " are +quite different; the "w" finishes with an inner, not an outer loop; the +"g's" have no flat tops; and the "hangers" of the "h's" do not descend +below the line. The writing is evidently an educated hand for the time, +and cannot readily be imagined as using small "i's" for the first +person, such as are used in, and seem to accord so well with, the much +less educated handwriting of the warning letter. + + * * * * * + +WILLIAM VAVASOUR, the Tresham family serving-man, is thus not only +conclusively proved to have written the anonymous letter to Lord +Monteagle, but most probably was also the "unknown man of a reasonable +tall personage" who is so quaintly described in the Government story as +having delivered the letter. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 46: Calendared by the Historical MSS. Commission. "Report on +MSS. in various Collections, vol. iii., 1904. The MSS. of T.B. +Clarke-Thornhill, Esq., of Rushton Hall, by Mrs. R.C. Lomas." These +important family papers were preserved and discovered in a curious +manner. In 1828, when making alterations at Rushton Hall, on removing a +partition wall, they were found with some theological books in a large +bundle wrapped in a sheet, which had been built into a recess in the +wall. As the papers, commencing in 1576, with a few of earlier date, end +in November, 1605, they were probably thus hidden away on Tresham's +arrest.] + +[Footnote 47: "Calendar," p. 59.] + +[Footnote 48: _Ibid._, p. 89.] + +[Footnote 49: "Students admitted to the Inner Temple, 1547-1660" +(1877).] + +[Footnote 50: "Calendar of Tresham Papers," p. 90.] + +[Footnote 51: His name does not appear in the list of Sir Thomas's ten +livery servants as retained while the establishment was at Hoxton before +Monteagle's tenancy, of which the accounts are with the Tresham Papers. +Under the stable charges is the keep of a horse for Thomas Vavasour, the +father (_ibid._, pp. 47, 50).] + +[Footnote 52: "Examination of Christopher Story, Thomas Bates's man" +("State Papers, Domestic," James I., xvi. 28, 1).] + +[Footnote 53: It will be remembered that Salisbury in the official story +describes Ward, who was Monteagle's secretary, as "one of his men."] + +[Footnote 54: Each of the other female attendants and servants, even +"Mawdlyn the Frenchwoman" at L10 yearly, have a livery ("Calendar of +Tresham Papers," p. 50).] + +[Footnote 55: The manuscript was originally entitled "A Treatise upon +Equivocation," which was altered by Father Garnet into "A treatise +against Lying & fraudule't dissimulatio'. Newly overseen by ye Authour & +published for the defence of Innocency, & for the Instructio' of +Ignora'ts." It purports to show when equivocation may "lawfully" be +used, and may have been compiled by Garnet, as the title-page and the +annotations throughout are in his handwriting. The folio manuscript by +George Vavasour was evidently a fair copy of the revised "quarto," and +Tresham's reason for having it made.] + +[Footnote 56: "Examination of George Vavasour, of the Inner Temple, +Gent., December 9, 1605" ("State Papers, Domestic," James I., ccxvi. +151).] + +[Footnote 57: He also confessed having transcribed the treatise "De +Officio Principis Christiani" (Further examination, December 13, 1605, +_ibid._, ccxvi. 155). Coke alluded to these manuscripts at the trial as +"certain heretical, damnable and treasonable books discovered." He said: +"There is in Tresham's book, 'De Officio Principis,' an easier and more +expedite way than all these to fetch the crown off the head of any king +christened whatsoever, which is this that: '_Princeps indulgendo +haereticis, amittit regnum._'--If any prince shall but tolerate or favour +heretics, he loseth his kingdom." This shows the confidential nature of +the Vavasours' employment as amanuenses by Tresham in such matters.] + +[Footnote 58: Examination of William Tresham, December 9, 1605 ("State +Papers, Domestic," James I., xvii. 23).] + + + +THE END + +PRINTED BY +BILLING AND SONS, LIMITED, +GUILDFORD, ENGLAND + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Identification of the Writer of +the Anonymous Letter to Lord Monteagle in 1605, by William Parker and Francis Tresham and William Vavasour + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANONYMOUS LETTER *** + +***** This file should be named 29777.txt or 29777.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/7/7/29777/ + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Jane Hyland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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